Politics
UK hospitals urged to scrap Palantir over health and human rights risks
A coalition of leading human rights, health groups and trade unions has urged NHS England to cancel its contract with Palantir based on serious risks to the NHS. Medact has sent its new briefing document, Concerns Regarding Palantir Technologies in NHS Data Systems, to all NHS trust and Integrated Care Board CEOs.
It urges them to exercise their local autonomy and not comply with NHS England’s instruction to adopt Palantir’s Federated Data Platform.
Palantir embedded across the NHS
Assessing the risks posed by the company’s technology to patients and the NHS, the briefing raises alarm over data protection, governance, procurement practices, state surveillance and the wider human rights implications of embedding Palantir’s systems across the health service.
The briefing warns that adopting Palantir’s Foundry platform under the NHS Federated Data Platform could cause irreparable reputational damage to NHS bodies and permanently undermine public trust.
It argues that Palantir’s links to alleged human rights abuses, the US and Israeli militaries, controversial policing practices, deportations and surveillance operations should have excluded it from NHS procurement entirely.
The Good Law Project’s Duncan McCann said:
Palantir is a direct threat to our health service that could see millions of people refuse to share their records – fatally undermining the very system it claims to improve.
At the heart of the warning is the interoperability of Palantir’s platforms. Its civil software Foundry and military software Gotham share underlying architecture. Because of this, the NHS’s adoption of the technology could indirectly contribute to the advancement of militarised tools that have been linked to alleged human rights abuses.
Defence and policing as well
With Palantir’s expansion into the Ministry of Defence and police forces across the country, groups warn of the risk of data-sharing across government departments.
Foundry software is currently enabling US Immigrations, Customs and Enforcement (ICE) to track migrants using the Department of Health and Human Services. This highlights the power of Palantir technology to drive data-driven abuses of state power.
The groups also raise concerns about procurement processes. They point to overlapping relationships between political figures, contractors and NHS leadership. This includes Peter Mandelson and his lobbying firm Global Counsel.
The Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has acted as a showcase site for Palantir technology. Its chair Matthew Swindells also simultaneously advised Palantir and Global Counsel.
Anna Peiris of Medact said:
For health workers, patient safety – and the security of their data – is non-negotiable. The launch of this briefing will help them to continue resisting Palantir, a company known for supporting the genocide in Gaza and mass deportations in the US, and ensure the rollout of Palantir’s data platform is stopped for good.
Cuts are driving Palantir dependence
The briefing also highlights new data privacy concerns. This is an issue which NHS leadership has repeatedly dismissed. The report reveals that, as part of the Federated Data Platform rollout, NHS data teams are reportedly receiving multiple requests each week from Palantir staff seeking access to stored patient-identifiable information.
Amid widespread staffing cuts across the NHS, analysts are increasingly reliant on Palantir personnel for implementation and system management. The groups warn this risks ‘vendor lock-in’, with Palantir retaining intellectual property and becoming entrenched as the dominant NHS data supplier.
The document also points out that, in a 2025 meeting, the health secretary Wes Streeting promised to review the governance of confidential patient information. He described this to Palantir as presenting “opportunities”.
The political context is shifting rapidly. The British Medical Association has announced its intention to explore how doctors can refuse to use Palantir’s software. Meanwhile, the Green Party has pledged to mobilise its members and councillors to oppose the rollout.
The briefing predicts further resistance from both NHS staff and patients if implementation continues, and urges local NHS bodies not to implement the technology.
A spokesperson for the United Tech and Allied Workers Union said:
Palantir’s encroachment into public services should be of utmost concern to the public and the government. The question of control is critical to maintaining both infrastructure and healthcare delivery.
Our members in the tech sector understand the importance of trust and oversight in tech, and this company has repeatedly proven itself to be untrustworthy and scruple-less.
Our NHS systems should be built and owned with public oversight and accountability. We should be leveraging and building in-house NHS technology expertise to deliver the data system we rely on, rather than giving Palantir profit and control of our private health data.
Hope Worsdale of Just Treatment said:
The trust between a patient and their doctor is paramount: it is the bedrock of the health service. Placing Palantir at the heart of our NHS – despite its immoral business practices, deadly products, anti-democratic leadership, and ineffective services – will have an irreparable, corrosive effect on that trust.
It begs the question: why have the lines of lobbyists mattered more to this government than the lives of patients?
We call on everyone with power within the NHS to heed this report’s warning, and resist at every possible point the imposition of Palantir’s control over patient data.
We call on parliamentarians to demand the government rips up its contract with Palantir, and develops a data processing system owned and controlled by our health service focused solely on the interests, needs, and rights of NHS patients.
Featured image via the Canary